


Space Nights, Empty Hearts

by JmJackal



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comfort, Cuddling, Fluff, M/M, Minor Angst, Other paladins but lowkey, lance is a good boi and keith is sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-25 22:07:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12045270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JmJackal/pseuds/JmJackal
Summary: Keith, despite being the red paladin of Voltron and surrounded (mostly) by friendly faces, has been feeling lonely. One night, he thinks of a way to stop this - but it doesn't end up as he planned it out.He can't decide if that's a bad thing, either.The title makes it seem much more dramatic than it is I swear, this is just indulgent drabble because Keith needs a hug))





	Space Nights, Empty Hearts

     Keith rolled over, a scowl curling his lips. His eyes fluttered open - fully alert from not even pretending to sleep tonight. His room was dark, pitch black. It always was, late at night. He set the lights to be this way. Well, he assumed it was night - there wasn't exactly a sun and moon to judge time by, so the group was mostly relying on the schedule Allura made for training.

Thinking of his schedule led to thoughts of the group, reminding him why he was truly awake. He'd never had insomnia, nor any other reason to be awake. It wasn't anything like that. It was that, in the darkness, Keith was left with his own thoughts - no bot or enemy to fight or conversation to carry, except for the ones he thinks up himself. When left alone, it was natural that his thoughts would wander. Some nights, they just wandered too far. His chest would begin to ache, like he had a hole missing in his middle. He got restless, fidgety, snapped awake no matter the time. So he lay, letting waves of loneliness wash over him as he thought of the cold of his room, the warmth of his bed coming only from him as his throat clogged and limbs became heavy with an invisible weight.

At first, he went back to the training deck on nights like these. Fought to tire himself out, then passed out in his bed until morning. But Coran caught him once, so he stopped. He didn't do anything at all, in fact, for a few weeks after. It only made it worse.

So he thought of who he could ask for help. Of course, he first thought of Shiro - a comforting figure who he knew he shouldn't be shy of asking. But it just didn't feel right. They'd been apart for so long. Allura was...not preferable. Turning his thoughts to Coran, regardless of previous incidents, made him a little sick, so those three were out. He thought of Pidge, who he knew would still be up anyway - they always were, bad for their health as it may be. However, he once again couldn't see himself asking them, so he decided against it. That left Hunk. Keith knew, from watching others, or stories from Pidge, or from hugs he'd experienced himself, that Hunk would be good at cuddling. One could tell just from looking at Hunk, for god's sake. Still, his arms didn't move.

His legs weren't kicking off his sheets, his feet weren't tapping the cold tile as he walked to his door. Instead, he was still in bed, movements akin to that of a statue.

And so, his mind continued to wander.

He thought of the last paladin aboard the castle, much as he tried not to. Lance McClain.

Just the thought of his name began a low simmer in his blood, a knotting in his muscles. The rivalry between himself and Lance came from unknown origins - unknown to Keith, at the least. He speculated it to be related to the Garrison, but couldn't be sure. He wasn't exactly very aware of the blue paladin during his time there, so there wasn't anything he could pinpoint even as a possibility.

Not that he was there for long, anyway.

But, the last of the castle's crew, the boy stuck in Keith's mind until the simmer turned into a thrum. This, he told himself, is what caused Keith to get out of bed. This took him into the hallway. This, without a doubt, is what brought his hand up to rap on the paladin's door, to meet his bleary eyes when it slid open, and to not run away when he asked what was going on.

"Mm'Keith?" The boy slurred, leaning against his door frame with sleepy eyes, a t-shirt and sweatpants combo, and ruffled hair. Behind him, Keith saw soft light coming from the corners of his room to give it a dreamlike glow. Lance was not wearing a face mask tonight, Keith also noted, adding to his drowsy appearance. It was almost cute.

Almost, Keith repeated.

"...uh, hey, Lance." Keith replied, mouth suddenly dry and arm reaching up to anxiously wring his neck. Blue light from the castle corridor walls illuminated the two as lance became more alert.

He picked himself up from the frame, crossing his arms almost defensively. Keith sighed.

"I, uh..." Keith tried again. His mind supplied brushing the entire thing off and going back to his room, but he refused to get cold feet. He needed to fix this problem.

He probably imagined it, but Lance's eyes seemed to have concern seeping into them. He stepped forward, and Keith froze.

"...You okay?" He asked hesitantly. Keith blushed as Lance pushed his hair back, seeming to lean in even further.

Words stuck in his throat, Keith tried to stop himself from leaning in, reaching his lips up to meet Lance's. He was sure that Lance could hear his racing heart.

"Keith?" Lance muttered, smiling slightly as he waited for the answer to a question Keith had forgotten when he fell into the ocean of Lance's eyes. After a few seconds, he asked again, "are you all right?"

"....oh. Oh, yeah, I'm-I'm okay, I just, uh..." Keith stuttered. It crossed his mind that Lance may be unbearable in the morning, mocking him for this "bonding moment" (haha). He didn't care.

"Then why are you up so late?" he asked. Keith shrugged, but Lance didn't back down.

"Trouble sleeping, I guess?" Keith was vague. "Happens a lot."

"Well...what do you normally do to get back to sleep?" Lance asked, shifting his weight onto his left foot.

"Train," he spoke on impulse.

"Do you want to spar with me, then?" He offered. Keith shook his head vigorously.

"I can't anymore. Coran caught me once and..." He shuddered, "never again." Lance chucked softly, Keith's heart clutching and the sweet sound.

"Okay, well, I can respect that. Do you have any other ideas?" Lance's voice, soft and sincere, reminded Keith once again how close they were from how he could nearly feel the vibrations as he spoke.

Keith blushed, his gaze falling to the floor. Lance nudged him with his shoulder.

"Well, it's embarrassing but..." Keith started.

"Hey, I'm here to help, not judge,"  
Lance reassured him. Keith steeled himself.

"I was thinking, maybe, we could...like, sleep together?" Keith's words were tentative as he sunk in on himself. Lance went stiff with a deep blush.

"OH MY GOD, NO!!" Keith sputtered. "I swear I didn't mean it like that! I meant, like, cuddling!"

Lance burst out laughing as Keith hid in his hands, catching his breath as he pulled the boy in for a hug.

Keith's heart stilled as he felt Lance's breath come out in puffs of laughter against his neck. Lance's breath traveled up to his ear where he  
whispered, "sure thing, samurai." Keith heated up in a head-to-toe blush, leaving Lance's skin against him maddeningly cold.

Lance nudged him, and the two headed back to Keith's room. As the doors slid open, the absolute darkness he kept at night felt no longer familiar, but cold - Lance's room was achingly warm in comparison. But Lance didn't seem to mind - he actually smiled at the differences in their rooms.

As their eyes met, lance shrugged and said, "it's kinda cute, the way yours is set up." Regardless of Keith not knowing what in the world that could have meant, he was flustered. "Although, I can't really see where I'm meant to be going. Guide me?" Keith, still blushing harshly, hesitated before taking Lance's hand and leading him to the edge of his bed. In pitch darkness, Keith made conscious efforts to stop his mind from imagining the situation if he and Lance were partners - a big what if, but something Keith was drawn back to just the same.

Unbeknownst to Keith, Lance was smiling down at him as he was led by the boy to sit on the bed. When the two were both seated, Lance asked a question startling Keith out of his thoughts abruptly.

"So, which spoon are you?" Keith's mind grappled for an answer for what seemed to be forever - the question didn't make sense to him at all for a few moments. Finally, he answered so softly Lance thought he was still thinking.

"...little?" He repeated, still whispering bashfully. Lance hummed knowingly, as if this was the expected answer, and if Keith's heart hadn't still been pounding he might have sucker punched the bastard. Snuffing out the feeling, Keith felt around until he had Lance's hand under his and began to lie down, unconsciously curling up on his side the way he always did trying to sleep.

Keith felt the mattress shift as Lance made his way closer to the wall before he lied down as well - making a thwump as he hit the comforter with his full weight.

Keith tingled from head to toe as Lance shifted to press against him, his stomach knotting pleasantly when an arm was slung comfortably around his waist. His lips curled in an almost lovestruck smile - I must look like a teenaged boy with a crush, he thought humorously (and quite accurately, as - unknowingly - he was).

Lance's legs tangled in his and his toes curled slightly into the sheets. A warm chest cautiously presses against his back, and he leaned into it affectionately. As he did, it moved in what felt like a low, chuckling laugh. Keith never wanted the feeling to stop.

"Hey, mullet-head," Keith heard a whisper behind him. "This will decide if you really need a haircut." These words were followed by a tickling on the back of Keith's neck that sent shocks of joy up his spine. Judging by the curled line Keith felt form on his neck, he guessed a haircut wasn't going to be necessary, after all.

Keith basked in the heat radiating off of the boy behind him, feeling blissful. With a jolt of surprised fear, he realized he would not be able to sleep without that heat now that he had not been alone tonight.

  
Later on, he would find this thought not to need any worry. Not because he could again sleep when alone again, but because the next morning, Keith and Lance asked each other out at the same time when training.

  
And Keith was never lonely again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! I really hope you enjoyed this work, if you did feel free to check out the others on my profile (they're for Haikyuu!! because I don't write very often). 
> 
> I really enjoyed writing this, my friend gave me the idea and I deciddd to write it over on Wattpad (if you want to find me there my username is the same as it is here)
> 
> See you soon, I hope!


End file.
